Tag Archives: economic stimulus

Here is an interesting story that serves as a good way to
introduce you to a Washington D.C.-based news operation recently
acquired by Scripps. Decode DC, a venture started by former NPR
Congressional correspondent Andrea Seabrook, delves into the
questions I would want to try to answer if I were a reporter in DC,
something I did once aspire to a few decades ago. In recent
episodes Decode DC delved into the sausage-making of the State of
the Union speech, the ridiculous speculation about
who the frontrunners are for the 2016 presidential race and the
real issues behind the
extension of unemployment benefits.

In a Kitsap Sun story in 2012 we
looked at the career of former U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, the Belfair
(but really, Bremerton) Democrat, who was retiring with accolades
from folks on Capitol Hill touting Dicks’ ability to work across
the aisle. Among those singing the congressman’s praises was
California Republican Jerry Lewis.

When you listen to the podcast posted above, though, you’ll see
that Lewis delivered the message that Republicans in early 2009
were not going to do anything to help the new president, Democrat
Barack Obama. “We can’t play,” Lewis told Democrat David Obey. Not
that Republicans didn’t secretly make requests, according to Obey.
They just didn’t want their bosses in House leadership to know. And
so you get a stimulus package that many believe was not big enough
to stir as much economic activity as was needed then.

Now, this of course ignores the thought that there are many in
this country who thought that the banks should not be bailed out
and there should be no economic stimulus. This particular episode
challenges that idea by starting from the premise that economists
on both sides were saying some stimulus was needed and by showing
conservative, free-market believer George W. Bush being the one
asking Congress to bail out the banks. So even some conservatives
were on board with the idea of government injecting itself into the
economy to save the economy.

That is until a Democrat became president, overseeing two
Congressional chambers also led by Democrats. You might say
Republicans could afford to say “No,” because they knew Democrats
would say “Yes.” This particular podcast sheds some light on what
happened behind the scenes.

It also gets Obey saying something you don’t hear politicians
saying very often, that many politicians in Washington are just not
very bright. You’ll have to listen to hear him say why.

When new episodes post I will likely make it a regular event to
post them here.

And finally, props to the suits in Cincinnati who saw fit to buy
up Decode DC.